1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides fusion proteins comprising a single strand DNA binding protein (SSB) and a nucleic acid polymerase, and methods for using such fusion proteins in nucleic acid synthesis reactions.
2. Background of the Invention
DNA polymerases synthesize DNA molecules that are complementary to all or a portion of a nucleic acid template, typically a DNA template. Upon hybridization of a primer to a DNA template to form a primed template, DNA polymerases can add nucleotides to the 3′ hydroxyl end sequence of nucleotides of the primer in a template-directed (i.e. depending upon the sequence of nucleotides in the template). Thus, in the presence of deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs) and a primer, a new DNA molecule, complementary to all or a portion of one or more nucleic acid templates, can be synthesized.
DNA polymerases that exhibit increased yield and/or enhanced fidelity (i.e., more accurate template-directed polymerization) are useful in nucleic acid synthesis, amplification and sequencing reaction. The compositions and methods described herein provide such DNA polymerases.